Eli
by dracocrazy322
Summary: Stanley is found innocent before he goes to CGL and his spot is taken by... Squid's little brother, Eli! *GASP* Naturally, Squid isn't very happy that Eli was sent to CGL. Trouble ensues. Rated T for violence and language. I DO NOT OWN HOLES! R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! Fourth story! OMG, so close to Beta Reader, not that I would be good at that. :P Yeah, you don't care about that. **

**So this is after Barf Bag left and Zero came. However, they found Stanley innocent, so his spot is taken by…. Squid's little brother, Eli! *Gasp* (Wow, that was really dramatic.) As you can imagine, trouble will ensue. (That sentence doesn't make sense does it? Okay now I'm rambling. I didn't know you could do that on the computer. I don't even do that in real life! This is weird…. My backspace button doesn't like me. ****) Eli is 14 and looks a lot like Squid, but his hair is longer.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Holes.**

**Rated T for mild violence and lots o' cussing.**

**Okay so this first scene is on the bus to CGL.**

_Fuck._

_Fuck everything- especially lockers. Why would they give them to us if we weren't allowed to put whatever we want in them? Fuck principals too. They think just 'cause they're in charge of the school they can look through our stuff._

_I hate them. I hate this stupid bus, too. It's so __**hot**__ in here. God, I'm thirsty._

I look at the guard a few seats in front of me. I could see his handcuff key on his belt. I wish I could get it, then I could stretch my arm. I don't get why they handcuffed me to the seat, what do they think I'm gonna do? Attack the driver? The guard has a gun; a big-ass _rifle_. Why would I do something that stupid? I ain't got no death wish.

I think I can see Camp Green Lake. I'm not surmised that there's no lake. My brother sent me one letter and all it said was, "Irony is a bitch. Don't get sent here." I wrote back asking a bunch of questions about the camp, but I guess he didn't get it, 'cause he never wrote back.

_Oh, shit… my brother. He's gonna kill me. _

I had contemplated avoiding him, but I don't think that would work for eighteen months. Well he would only be there for fourteen of them, but that's still more than a year.

Al is gonna rip me limb from limb when he sees I'm at Camp Green Lake. Then he's gonna put me back together and do it again when he finds out why.

Now I can really see the camp. _I'm gonna be spending a year and a half of my life __**here**__? Camp Green Lake is the definition of Teenage Wasteland. I bet The Who was singing about this place. _

The guard came over and unlocked my handcuff. My wrist was red and sweaty where it had been.

"Be careful," he said.

Confused, I asked, "Of what?"

He glared at me and said, "Everything, everyone."

"That's helpful," I grumbled.

"Hey, don't be a wise-ass, kid. Won't get you nowhere here," the guard said sternly. I cross my eyes at his back.

I follow him off the bus and am surprised to feel even hotter than I did in there. I didn't know that was possible. He takes me to an office with a weird looking dude with slicked-back hair and long sideburns sits at a desk eating sunflower seeds. He looks like your average Texas guy. Well, I talk like the average Texas guy, so I shouldn't be stereotyping him.

"Sit down," he commands. I do. The guard stands in a back corner. I can feel him watching me.

"What's with the sunflower seeds, man?" the guard asks the guy at the desk.

"I gave up smokin'," he replies. He shuffles some papers on his desk, then looks at me and says, "Elijah Smith."

"Eli," I say. I hate the name Elijah.

"I am Mr. Sir," he says. I try to keep from laughing. _What a weird name._ He continues, "You will call me by my name when you talk to me. Is that clear, _Eli_?"

"Yes, Mr. Sir," I say, still trying to keep from laughing.

The room suddenly goes cold. I hear the guard come closer.

"Something funny?" he asks. I look up and see him dead serious. I stop smiling and shake my head.

"Well?" the guard demands.

"No, Mr. Sir," I say slowly and clearly.

Mr. Sir nods and stands up. He walks out the door, beckoning me to follow him. I do, and he takes me to another office that looks more like a closet to me. There are cubbies with boots and orange things lining the walls. Mr. Sir gives me a pair of boots, two orange things (jumpsuits), an orange hat, a canteen, and some towels and explained the laundry schedule. He made me change into one of the orange jumpsuits and the boots he gave me. I had to give him my rings because they're supposedly "potential weapons." What makes them think that some flimsy rings are gonna do more damage than these half pound boots? Adults just don't use their heads sometimes.

He also tells me that I have to dig a 5 foot by 5 foot hole _every freaking day!_ That can _not_ be legal.

A really short guy with a ton of sunscreen on his nose and a straw hat walks in and proudly announces, "Elijah, you may have done some bad things, but that does not make you a bad boy!"

"How do you know my name?" I ask.

"He just does, boy," Mr. Sir growls, "Ya know, some people say that there's no such thing as a stupid question, but there most definitely is."

_I love you too, Turd-face._

"Now, Elijah, I am going to give you the grand tour of Camp Green Lake!" Mr. Happy says, "Oh! And my name is Mr. Pendanski. Easy to remember: pen, dance, key!"

He shows me around the camp. This place is tiny! … And crappy. He warns me about some of the wildlife and that I wouldn't last three days if I ran off. After that, he says that my tent-mates should be back soon, and that he would introduce me to them then. Apparently, I'm in D-tent. "D stands for diligence!" Mr. Pendanski says.

_Man, what if Al's in D-tent? There's no hope for me if he is. God, he's gonna __**kill**__ me! I wonder where everyone is. All Mr. P. said was "back." He didn't say where they were, but I guess they're somewhere digging._ I put on the hat Mr. Sir gave me, just in case Al saw me before I saw him. Wouldn't want that happening.

"Ah! Here we are! Rex! Theodore! Richard! Come over here and meet Elijah!" Mr. Pendanski shouts. Three boys carrying shovels walk over to me and Mr. P.

"Yo, mom, I told you," a skinny black one says, "My name ain't Rex. It's X-Ray."

"And my name's Armpit, ma," a fat black one says, "I don't know no fool named Theodore."

"And he's Zigzag, not Richard," X-Ray says, pointing at a skinny white dude with insane blond hair. He was staring at me like I was some sort of freak.

"Have I seen you before?" Zigzag asks suspiciously.

"No, Zig, you have never seen… What's his name?" X-Ray asks.

"Eli," I say. I don't need Mr. Pendanski telling them my name is "Elijah." It's probably the stupidest name in the whole world.

"Well, Rex, how about you take Eli to D-tent and introduce him to the other boys?" Mr. Pendanski suggests. X-Ray rolls his eyes and motions for me to follow him. I do, walking a little behind the three of them Zigzag keeps giving me really weird looks.

"X, I swear I seen him somewhere! Don't he look familiar to you?" he insists, looking over his shoulder.

"No, Zig, no one at this camp has ever seen him before!" X-Ray says sternly.

"But-"

"NO!" both X-Ray and Armpit say in unison.

We come to a big green tent with a "D" on the front. I pull my hat down lower, just in case Al is in there. As an extra precaution, I mostly look down.

We walk into the tent and X-Ray immediately tells someone to get their feet off his bed. I can see three other pairs of feet, seven cots and seven crates, six of them with stuff in them.

"Boys, this is Eli. Eli, this is Zero-" a small kid with massive amounts of curly hair, "Magnet-" a tall Hispanic guy, "and Squid." _Crap._


	2. Chapter 2

**I hope you guys liked Chapter 1! Here is Chapter 2; it is immediately after Chapter 1.**

**Rated T for potential violence and lots o' cussin'.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Holes,**

"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled, jumping of his bed and grabbing me my by the collar of my jumpsuit.

"I-"

"Squid! What the hell?" X-Ray shouted.

"Huh? What'd ya do, Eli?"

"Al, I-"

"SQUID! LET GO OF HIM!" X-Ray screams, pulling my brother off of me, "_What_ is goin' on?"

Al looked too mad to talk, so I said, "He's my older brother."

"Told'ja he looked familiar," Zigzag whispered to Armpit.

"Man, shuddup, dude," he whispered back.

"What are you doing here?" Al asks me, venom dripping from his words.

I move behind X-Ray to ensure I won't be attacked again.

"Boy, what are you doing?" he asks.

"Hidin'," I say to X-Ray. To Al, I say, "The principal, um, found a… gun in my locker."

"A GUN? Are you crazy?" Al asks.

"It wasn't _loaded_," I explain, "I don't even have bullets! It was just a bluff."

"And _why _would you need a bluff? You didn't join a gang, did you?" he interrogates.

"No, I did not join a gang. Did you already forget where we live, Al?" I say like I'm talking to an idiot- which he is… sometimes.

"My name is _Squid_, not Al, _Elijah_!" he retorts.

"My name isn't Elijah," I mutter.

"Yes, it is, it says so on your birth certificate," Al says proudly, like he just finished a hundred-word essay.

"_Well_, then, Alan-"

"Would you two cut it out?" X-Ray shouts, startling everyone into silence, "Now, Squid, I know you're mad, but yer gonna hafta get used to it. And you stop hiding behind me!" He continues, side-stepping so I'm not behind him anymore.

"Well?" X-Ray asks impatiently after a few moments of silence.

"Well what?" Al asks.

"Apologize to your little brother!" X-Ray says like it was obvious.

"Fer what?" Al asks indignantly.

"Attacking him," X-Ray says after rolling his eyes.

"I didn't _attack_ him!"

"Now!"

"Sorry, Eli," Al grumbles, frowning.

"Apology accepted, Squilliam!" I say with a smirk. That earns some laughter from Magnet and Armpit and a confused look from Squid.*****

I put my stuff in my cubby and sit on the only bed that looks like it doesn't belong to anyone.

"Well, we're gonna go take showers. You can either wait here or go to the Rec Room," X-Ray explains.

"I'll wait here," I say, lying down on the bed.

I hear them all shuffling around and leaving the tent. Pretty soon it's just me and Squid.

"It's good to see you again, even if you're here," he says without much emotion.

"You too," I reply, looking over at him. He nods an leaves the tent.

_This is gonna be a long 18 months._

***AN: Imma start calling him Squid now, it feels weird to call him Al.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yo! Wassup? Sorry this took so long, really am. So this is like fifteen minutes after chapter 2.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Holes**_**, Louis Sachar does.**

**Rated T for violence and lot's o' cussin'. Warning: mention of abuse.**

"Hey, Eli, you comin' to the Rec Room?" Squid asks, already halfway out of the tent. He and the other boys took their showers then came back here. I nod and get up off my cot. That thing is surprisingly comfortable.

"So you're really here 'cuz you had a gun in your locker?" Magnet asks. He seems nice enough.

"Yup," I say, popping my lips on the 'p'.

"What kinda gun?" Zigzag asks, a suspicious look on his face.

"Just a .45 handgun," I say and his face relaxes.

Squid shakes his head and says, "I still can't believe you were stupid enough to buy a gun."

"Who said I bought it?" I say, smirking while trying to get some dirt from underneath my fingernails.

Squid, who had been walking on my left wheeled around so he was in front of me and practically screams in my face, "You STOLE it?"

"No," I say, pushing him aside, "I swiped it from mom's boyfriend while he was passed out on the couch."

"Mom's _what_?" he splutters, stopping in his tracks.

"Lot's changed since you left, Squidly," I say as I keep walking, "Mom met Brad 'bout a week after you were convicted, he moved in a week after they met. Mom's drinking less, but mostly 'cuz he drinks it all."

We got to the Rec Room then, and I learned it was actually the 'Wreck' Room, which isn't too surprising judging by the looks of the stuff in there. Squid and X-Ray go over to the pool table and Zigzag plops himself down in front of a TV. When he turns it on, nothing but static shows up, but he just leans in closer like it is the most interesting show in the world. I decide to go over and watch Squid, X-Ray and Magnet play pool.

"Hey!" a rough voice behind me growls, "New meat!"

I don't know what he's talking about, so I keep walking.

"Don'tchu ignore me!" the same voice says indignantly, louder this time.

I'm not sure who he's talking to, so I just walk a little faster. X-Ray's looking at someone behind me, a hard expression on his face. Magnet looks at X-Ray then taps Squid on the shoulder. Just as he looks up someone shoves me hard in the back. I stumble a few steps, catch myself and spin around to find myself face-to-face with a rather muscular guy with a shaved head. He really looks like a delinquent, unlike all the boys in D-Tent: he has a swirling tattoo on his left shoulder and a scar running from under his right eye to his jaw line.

"What, bitch?"

He has me in a headlock in a second. I try to fight back, get him to loosen his grip just a little, but he's too strong. I feel him straightening up and push back with my shoulder. He leaned back, lifting my feet off the ground, causing them to windmill wildly. I fight to get him to lean back down, and, like an idiot, he does. I use my momentum to flip him over my head. He lands with a sickening thud. Another guy—presumably one of his friends—tackles me from behind. I flip over on my back to receive a hard punch to my left cheek closely followed by another one that landed on the left corner of my mouth. I taste blood and my cheek throbs painfully. I manage to swing up with my left arm to block his third punch and jab him in the neck with my right hand. He gasps for breath and I push him off me. I get over him and rear back with my right arm. I'm about to let it fly when someone roughly grabs me by my elbow, pulls me up off of him and throws me onto my back. I look up, ready to block another blow, and see the person I least expect—Mr. Sir.

"Now what the hell is goin' on here," he asks in a low, angry growl.

A tense silenced followed his words. No one wanted to tell him. I wiped away some of the blood rolling down my face from the cuts on my lip and cheek. The guy I flipped onto the floor was standing with some other guys behind the one who tackled me who was still on the floor. Squid and the guys from D-Tent were standing to my right. Squid looked livid and X-Ray had his hand on his shoulder as if he was holding him back. The other guys who had been in the Wreck Room had formed a sort of circle around us and stood a little back, like they were trying not to get noticed.

"Huh?" Mr. Sir shouted. Nearly everyone flinched and Mr. Sir smirked in reaction. I figured someone should answer him soon, and it was probably gonna be one of the guys who had been in the fight.

"Uh—," I started.

"Now, what the hell are you all fired up about? I was trying to read," a stern-looking woman with red hair and freckles said, sounding pretty peeved, as she walked in with Mr. Pendanski trailing close behind her. She reached Mr. Sir and looked around, taking in the other guy on the floor and the ring of guys around us. Finally, she looked back and saw me. Her eyes pierced into mine and I involuntarily flinched. Her eyes roved over the rest of my face, taking in the cuts.

"I'm guessing you're Elijah," she says with an amused tone. I nod weakly, feeling like her deep brown eyes can see right through me, like she knows everything about me by just looking at me.

"You will answer, 'Yes, ma'am,'" Mr. Sir growls.

"Yes, ma'am," I say in a breathy voice. I don't know why, but this lady scares the shit outta me.

"Get up! Both of you!" she orders. The other guy and I scramble to our feet. None of our friends help us—they seem too scared to move.

"Now, I want to know who started this," she says icily, alternating looking at me and the other guy. When no one answered, she said, "Well?"

I shared a furtive look with X-Ray. He nodded, indicating that I should tell her.

"U-um, he did… ma'am," I say, pointing at the guy who first pushed me. He shifts his feet nervously and looks around. The red-headed woman crosses her arms and walks slowly over to me, bouncing a little on each foot until her toes are touching mine. I sniff and wipe some more blood from my face.

"So," she said, pointing to the guy I said started it, "you're saying… that he… started it?"

"Ye-yes, ma'am," I stutter.

She juts her jaw to the right and raises her eyebrows, "Uh-huh?" I nod and wipe some more blood from my face. She nods and walks over to the guy who started it.

"Is this true?" she asks him, her hands on her hips and most of her weight on her right foot. He shuffles his feet some more, looks down at them, and nods. "Really?"

"Yes-h'rm-yes, ma'am."

"Well, you just cost your tent a weeks worth of shower tokens," Mr. Sir drawls. Many of the boys standing with him—including the one who tackled me—groan and cuss. But he just blinks for longer than normal and nods. Not even a tough guy like him could stand up to this woman.

"And as for you," she says, pointing at me, "You have kitchen duty for two weeks."

I feel my eyes widen. "What?"

"Excuse me?" she drawls, venom dripping from her words.

"I—," I start, taking a couple steps back, "I m-mean: yes, ma'am."

"That's what I thought," she says as she nods, looking at me out of the corner of her eyes. She walks out with her arms crossed.

"Clean him up, Pendanski," Mr. Sir growls, pointing at me, "Don't you all have things to do?" he says louder and the other boys scatter around the room. I go over to the guys from D-Tent, carefully avoiding their eyes.

"Eli," Mr. Pendanski says from behind me, "Eli, we have to clean those cuts out."

I sigh and roll my eyes, but sit down on the arm of a couch and let him dab some stinging iodine on my cuts after wiping away the blood. I attempt to resist when he tries to put Band-Aids on them, but eventually X-Ray tells me to just let him. They feel ridiculous, but I guess I don't want dirt getting in my cuts while I'm digging tomorrow.

Some of the guys try to talk to me, but I just ignore them and go back to the tent. It's amazing how hot it still is, even with the sun sinking lower and lower towards the horizon.

Someone comes into the tent—two someones. My guess is Squid and X-Ray. Sure enough, they both come over to my cot. Squid sits down next to me and X-Ray leans against one of the poles that hold up the tent.

"Eli?" Squid starts then licks his lips, "Eli, listen, okay? Don't mess with that guy, or any of C-Tent. They're real criminals—big charges. They're all crazy, okay?"

I nod and he continues, but I don't really listen. I mostly look at my hands and occasionally X-Ray. He keeps the same stony expression the whole time. Now that I think about it, he's a really good guy—he seems to really care about all of us in D-Tent.

I realize Squid has stopped talking and is looking at me expectantly. I bite my lip and ask, "Who was that lady? She's a scary bitch."

X-Ray laughs and says, "That's the Warden. Man, I thought she was gonna kill you when you asked her what. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking, 'That's not fair, I'm the victim in all this!'" I say, laughing along with him.

"Speaking of victims," Squid says, surprisingly serious, "How are you? Does your face hurt? How's your neck?"

"God, I'm fine!" I say, exasperated. He let me take care of myself for my whole life, and now he's all over me!

"Eli, those were strong guys, you can't pretend you're not hurt!" he says sternly. X-Ray stiffens and looks awkward.

"I'm fine!"

"I don't think so."

"Goddammit, I'm used to it okay?" I shout, standing up and facing him. Squid looks like his biggest fear has come true, which I'm guessing it just did.

"What do you mean?" he practically whispers.

"I'm gonna go back to the Wreck Room," X-Rays says as he walks towards the tent flap. As he reaches out to open it, it is thrust aside by a worried-looking Armpit and Magnet.

"Yo, how's the kid?" Armpit asks.

"He's fine, now go," X-Ray replies, his voice full of authority as he pushes them grumbling out of the tent.

"What do you mean?" Squid asks again as their voices recede.

I shouldn't've said anything; I didn't want to tell him this. Not so soon, anyway. God, how am I gonna tell him.

"It's Brad isn't it," he whispers, hate stronger than anything I thought him capable of fills his voice. I don't answer him—I don't know how. "Just tell me!" he shouts, standing up next to me and grabbing my forearms.

"Yes! Yes! Yes, it's Brad! It started a few days after he moved in! I didn't know what to do! He said he'd hurt Mom too if I told anyone!" I shout back, emotion filling my voice, "And I couldn't let him hurt her, so I just—God, Al, I didn't know what to—," he pulls me into a hug and I don't resist him as I normally would. It's then that I realize just how much I miss him—how much I need him.

"It started out as just a slap once in a while if I talked back or didn't do what he told me to, then, one time he was drunk, and—and… Mom tried to help, but he locked her in their room. I swear, I thought he was gonna kill me…" I trail off.

"It's okay, he can't touch you here," Squid assures me, but after living in fear for almost four months, I'm not sure I believe him.


End file.
